The McQueen we were met with yesterday was far from the villainous highland flourishes of FW14. The bedraggled feathers were gone as was the theatrical tartan and place was a completely different code – one that heralded a full embrace of the sportswear-tailoring fusion that a good number London’s smaller menswear designers have been innovating for many a season now.

Missy Elliott pumped through the speakers and shot the models on through, their charge in no small way also drawing from the confidence each and every silhouette exuded. Sharp shoulders here were contrasted with rounded cuts there, Prince of Wales check and houndstooth injecting longer coats with a stately punk attitude. That same motif was utilised, alongside blocks of engine red and black and kabuki motifs that swept across much of the outerwear.

Considering the collection, The Royal College of Surgeons as a location could be pinned as devoid of any further meaning than a beautiful venue. Then again, a series of near-all white looks were themselves near surgical in their sterile aesthetic. Here we had Sarah Burton making a considered incision. What lay inside was a knife-sharp collection that has definitively stepped the brand’s menswear into a loftier sportswear arena.